I’m very worried about what’s about to happen at the polls on November 4th. The ginning up of the troops by the Republicans (about voter fraud) is setting up a situation that could be pretty rough.
Here’s a Financial Times article in which Gov. Barbour is stirring things up.
I say this having been personally assaulted in a contentious voter-protection context (assaulted and told by the assailant I was acting solely out of liberal guilt! I’m not kidding! I told the assailant that if he made contact again he was really going to regret it).
h/t Sailor.
Don’t be afraid. The Brown Shirts, er, Democrats have already stolen this election.
“Don’t be afraid. The Brown Shirts, er, Democrats have already stolen this election.”
Now that may be the dumbest thing I’ve heard since the announcement of McCain’s choice for running mate.
Brownshirts? Do you even know what Brownshirts were? No fair googling for it real quick. Do you realize how utterly stupid you sound when you use Brownshirts and Democrats in the same sentence? Same paragraph? Same book? Do you think for a moment … strike that …self-answering question.
Lemme rephrase it: has it occurred to you that the Brownshirts might … just MIGHT … have been a little outta plumb to the Right? About as far outta plumb to the Right as Deadeye Dick Cheney? Well … in fairness to Brownshirts, even they might not have been THAT far to the right.
Stolen what election? There hasn’t been an election. Stealing the upcoming presidential election? Lemme see you make the case for that one. We’ve survived 8 years of the absolute worst administration, staffed by the worst and stupidest people ever to cross 14th Street Bridge … an administration that blew the nation’s economy to hell, started a war with a pissant nation that did us no harm, and … oh hell, you’re not listening anyhow.
Democrats haven’t stolen anything. The Bush administration, coupled with McCain’s mental crepitance, are handing the election to the Democrats.
Observer, I think you’re calling the Democrats “Brown Shirts” because you know that the SS made short work of them, and you’re identifying with that.
NMC: I see where you are coming from and I think your fear is legitimate. The cheap tricks Haley and his cohorts keep pulling: the gobbledygook opinion in Hood v Barbour, trying to manipulate the ballot and now this are born of the same spirit as firehoses turned on African Americans in the 60s to prevent them from exercising their Constitutional rights.
Observer: It must be painful to be carrying that kind of vicious hate around toward your fellow Americans.
When you throw out some asinine statement like this, Observer, we can always count on it having been the latest talking points on the right wing sites. Sure ‘nuf, I googled it and found no fewer than 8 references to indicate just that. Do you listen to anything other than the echo of your own voice? Do you use that voice for anything other than parroting Limbaugh, Hannity, et al? Have they taken over your mind, body and spirit?
Don’t worry about Observer, folks, he’s just sulking and consoling himself with fantasies of his own personal night of the long knives. And, having run afoul of a generally accepted corollary to Godwin’s law, he’s lost whatever argument we’re having.
The statement is not asinine. So far, of the two camps, the most Nazi-like group has been the Obama group. The vicious media attacks on “Joe the Plumber” clearly demonstrate that the Obama-MoveOn Left is no friend of freedom. ACORN has flooded registrars with bogus voter registrations. ACORN has become so outrageous that the DEMOCRAT state officials in Nevada are investigating.
Falsified voting. No tolerance for dissent. Personal attacks on those who don’t toe the line.
That’s what the Obama Left has done throughout this election. Obama BEGAN this whole campaign by STEALING Iowa — he bused in college kids from Illinois to flood the caucuses.
I know who the SA were, and that’s why I used the term Brown Shirts. Watching the way the media went after “Joe the Plumber” sure reminded me of the tactics of the Brown Shirts.
Obama is gonna be President. And all of you absolutely deserve everything that that will mean. Only problem is that I will have to suffer through it all, too.
Note to GG, WTF are you talking about? I can only hear Limbaugh maybe once a week if I drive out of town, and I despise Hannity, O’Reilly, and their ilk. Did it even occur to you that if you found 8 recent references to Brown Shirts that maybe the Left HAS been engaging ni some fairly despicable tactics this year?
Obama represents a movement to the Left. There’s no stopping this movement at this time, but every nation that has ever made a turn to the Left has regretted it. Every single time. Period.
You really are losing it Observer. If you meant that as a serious shot instead of some sort of joke (that didn’t quite work) you’re taking leave from reality.
Ben Cole // Oct 21, 2008 at 12:32 am:
Brownshirts? Do you even know what Brownshirts were? No fair googling for it real quick. Do you realize how utterly stupid you sound when you use Brownshirts and Democrats in the same sentence? Same paragraph? Same book
Ben Cole // Aug 28, 2008 at 10:52 pm:
Everything about it makes me so mad I could eat ice cream. But it’s the method of execution that really chaps my behind. ICE didn’t have to go in there like the Nazi Brown Shirts raiding a Jewish merchant’s pawn shop.
Is a reasonable explanation why Ben’s usage of the term was acceptable back in August?
What are the Democrats doing to stop you from voting, Observer? Or to stop your allies from voting? Or to stop you from speaking? (OK, you can cite the threat of being banned from Folo, I suppose, but there’s always setting up your own blog on blogspot).
The mash-up of logic in your post (vicious media attacks on Joe the Plumber: What happened to Joe is what happens to anyone who has their 15 mins of fame, whether their kid gets stuck down a well, or otherwise become the center of the media spotlight for a moment. Got nothing to do with the media being “liberal”– Fox’ll focus on these stories along with everyone else if it doesn’t run counter to their narrative. I think you know this).
Acorn: That’s vicious? Incompetent, perhaps, if what you’re talking about is registering cards for people who aren’t voters. And so how is someone without an ID going to vote?
And I’ll answer that with this: Republican state registrars have set in place systems to disenfranchise felons where there is a name match of 5 of 8 letters. That’s no match at all. You going to defend that? It’s much more likely to effect the vote than attempts to register Mickey Mouse.
Falsified voting: What are you talking about here? Registration? I don’t think so.
You have a cite for Obama having non-voters caucus? Everyone who works the Iowa caucuses busses in volunteers to help do the job.
If you think what you’ve posted is why the election is going the wrong way for you, you’re living in a fantasy.
And if anyone in this scenario is a brown shirt, it’s the folks making up the Palin rallies yelling “terrorist,” at local McCain headquarters passing out fliers that imply connections with bin Laden, and that Obama is a Muslim. Those are classic brown shirt tactics. I’ve seen none of that from the Democratic side.
Go back to your sulk.
deleted
Observer @7:
“Obama is gonna be President. And all of you absolutely deserve everything that that will mean. Only problem is that I will have to suffer through it all, too.”
Yeepee! Yep. and Yep!
I doubt the Observers of the world care to go there, but hilzoy has done a great deal of follow-up on the ACORN story. Anyone lacking Observer’s aversion to facts will profit by reading it.
If I linked this yesterday (?), apologies for the repeat — but I swanny, I just can’t get over this kind of coverage showing up in the Washington Times. Check out that video!
NMC, will you provide some back story around the assault? Was this a random conversation that just got out of hand or were you at odds with an acquaintance? Were you registering people to vote or just bemoaning the stupidity of the argument that Democrats will “steal” the election?
Re: 14-*They [protesters] also were complaining that Sundays are for church, not voting.* And these protesters were where? In church? Ya just gotta love the
logicinsanity here.Olemissreb, I was directing work at the polls that involved both helping with voters being challenged and dealing with challenges of questionable voters. As I crossed the parking lot, a guy who was working with the Republicans came up to me, stood in my way, shoved me and told me he couldn’t believe I was working with the candidate I was working with (someone I knew well and he didn’t know at all) and that the only reason I was doing what I was doing was “liberal guilt”. When he wouldn’t let me by, and had shoved me, I told him that if he shoved me again, he’d really regret it.
In one sense it was no big deal, although in another it was– it was definitely about intimidating me. I was more amused than anything else. But that’s in a small town context where everyone knew each other. And I think this election is going to be far more volatile and have groups that don’t know each other bumping into each other and showing pretty sharp elbows.
Wow, that’s incredible to me. I cannot believe people would be so stupid to physically confront someone just because they’re working on an opponent’s campaign.
I know people steal signs and bad mouth each other, but to actually shove someone over a political campaign is insane.
I’m sorry you went through that and I commend you for not backing down or escalating the situation.
Seriously what did he hope to accomplish?
Echoing omr. NMC, this guy was some local you know, not a stranger, right?
I guess I’d have to say: Amused perhaps, Tom, but still, to be the object of intimidation is never comfortable, especially for small women. I’d like to think that I’d grow a pair and shove back whether literally or figuratively, but in reality, I’d feel very uneasy about being around town knowing that hate-mongers had sighted a bead on me so to speak. Even milder events, such as speaking out and taking an unpopular position at town meeting, can make me feel uncomfortable. Democracy is not easy.
He was a local, although I don’t know him really. BTW, it was not in this year’s primary; apparently that was assumed from my description.
My favorite voter intimidation story from 2000. The Head of the Jackson County County Chamber of Commerce goes to a large minority precent in Moss Point, (without a letter ) and starts asking for ID and yelling at voters, and videotaping the people voting, and is ask to leave the local Democratic Poll watcher and head of NAACP also tells him to stop what he is doing . He assaulted him got into a rukus and the police were called. The sheriff’s department sends several cars somwhow even though precinct was in city limits and parks several cars right in front of precinct and finally restore order. Did not make the offending party leave for hours. stayed on scene for hours. Can those of you that know election law tell everyone how many election law and civil rights violations there were here. I begged the Democratis party to file a lawsuit but being wimps, they declined. I was furious because I was asked to watch this area and checked on it and it was fine but went back to the office when the SOB showed up with his Nazi’s. It was really a blessing because I am hot blooded irishmen who hates the Mfer involved in this and always have. Plus I was unknowingly on steriods at the time and I am sure I would put that SOB through a wall. I bought it at QVC, androstene.
Just kick him in the jewels real hard … but be sure you don’t miss.
Many of you here are wound up tighter than a banjo string over this election. The feeding frenzy so prevalent here for so long is a testament to that observation.
But, there are many of us out here who, while very interested in the election, vocal with our opinions, and concerned about our country, aren’t standing at the ledge of panic or hysteria.
No, we plan to go vote for our candidate of choice and then peacefully live with the choice of the nation, whatever choice that may be. And I think that will be true of the overwhelming majority of the country.
I think what you say will be true of the overwhelming majority of the country, AFOTL. It’s also pretty evident to me that there is going to be some serious argument up to and including strife around polling in many places. This isn’t something I’ve concluded from anything on this site, but rather things I’m involved in monitoring and working with in the “real world.” I would love to be wrong about that.
Jerry: Using “Brownshirts” as simile is one thing. Using it as accusation is another. At least, that’s the way I see it. Your results may vary.
Well, this is how I would deal with any problems at the precinct where I will cast my vote on election day. While I don’t really expect any trouble, IF someone or a group were to try to intimidate me or otherwise attempt to prevent me from entering the precinct to vote, I will simply go back to my vehicle, call the local law enforcement agencies to report the behavior and ask that they come immediately, call the local media to alert them to a good election day story, use my digital camera in my phone to photograph the bad behavior, and then sit back and wait for the cavalry to arrive. And then, go in and cast my vote. And subsequently, I will expose the perpetrators with as much publicly as I can personally muster. No violence necessary.
Now, that wouldn’t be so hard, would it? Like I said, I don’t expect such to be necessary, nor can I really imagine such being necessary, but in the event such did occur, it could be easily handled with no need for violence.
That’s good advice, and what I’d tell any voter to do. I’m guessing that in 90% of the polling places that will suffice if even that is needed. I expect (with reason) a few hot spots, and was just contemplating being ready for it.
No doubt there will be a few “hot spots”, especially in the large inner city areas, where even a win or loss by a favorite sports team, perceived excessive force by police, or an unfavorable jury verdict can trigger rioting and mayhem.
And while there may indeed be a handful of idiots creating problems at the voting precincts while voting is going on (which should be easily dealt with by law enforcement authorities), the few “hot spots” of trouble around the country that could potentially erupt will do so AFTER the election results are in.